Blue Jays looking to sweep Yankees
The Toronto Blue Jays have their first series win since April 26-28 and now they will go for the sweep Thursday night in the series finale against the visiting New York Yankees.
The Blue Jays have won the first two games of the three-game series with the Yankees. Their last series win was a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics, also at home.
The Blue Jays came back to defeat the Yankees 11-7 Wednesday with a five-run eighth inning, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hitting a go-ahead three-run homer followed by solo shots from Randal Grichuk and Brandon Drury.
Grichuk also hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
The Blue Jays have won two in a row after an 0-6 road trip. The Yankees have lost three in a row for only the second time this season.
The Blue Jays had a different look Wednesday. They recalled Teoscar Hernandez from Triple-A Buffalo, where he played center field. The plan also is to play him in center field at Toronto.
"We want him to play center a lot," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters. "He's played center before and did well, and we want to see him again there. And (Lourdes) Gurriel Jr. is playing left pretty well, so we want to leave Gurriel there and not move him around."
Starting in center, Hernandez had two doubles and two RBI on Wednesday. He replaced Jonathan Davis, who was returned to Buffalo.
Hernandez was optioned to Buffalo May 16, after hitting .189/.262/.299 with three home runs over 39 games at Toronto.
The Blue Jays will start right-hander Edwin Jackson (0-3, 13.22) in the series finale.
The Yankees will try to avoid the sweep by starting former Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ (5-3, 4.83 ERA), who will make his 13th start of the season. The 36-year-old earned the win in the Yankees' 4-1 victory against the Boston Red Sox Friday, allowing one run and three hits over five innings.
He was acquired by the Yankees from the Blue Jays in exchange for Drury and outfielder Billy McKinney July 26.
In three career starts against Toronto, he is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA. He made one start against the Blue Jays in 2018 after being traded to the Yankees. He earned the win Aug. 19 at Yankee Stadium, allowing seven hits and two runs with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
Jackson will make his fifth start as a Blue Jay. He last faced the Yankees in 2017, when he made two relief appearances. He is 2-7 with a 5.21 ERA in 21 career games (13 starts) against the Yankees.
The Yankees played some poor defense Wednesday, making three errors. One was a careless throwing error by shortstop Gleyber Torres that set up Toronto's two-run seventh.
Regular shortstop Didi Gregorius is expected to return to the team Friday in Cleveland for the opener of a three-game series against the Indians. In his first eight minor league rehabilitation games, he is batting .156 (5-for-32) after going 2-for-4 Wednesday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that is not a concern.
"Save (the hits) for here," Boone said. "I don't worry about Didi. Didi, as long as he's healthy and building up properly and getting the reps, and getting them every day and the bounce back at shortstop, I feel like he's getting that out of the way now. I'm not worried about him."
--Field Level Media
